Tippe Valley Eyes $600K Funding Shortfall
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
During the school board Monday night, Superintendent Brett Boggs gave the board a report on the funding reduction.
On Dec. 28, Governor Mitch Daniels announced funding for education would be reduced by $297 million in 2010 beginning with the January distribution. Recently, the reduction was increased by an additional $1.4 million, Boggs said.
In comparing the total 2009 state tuition support for K-12 education with the new state tuition support total for 2010, there is a reduction in funding of approximately $189 million, or about 3 percent.
Boggs said the problem is that Indiana's school corporations built their 2010 budgets based on the actions of the 2009 General Assembly. These budgets were approved last fall with the assumption the state monies would flow accordingly to school corporations. Master contracts were negotiated and staffing decisions made based on the funding promised by the General Assembly.
In reality, Boggs said, Indiana's school corporations will experience a reduction in state tuition support of 4.557 percent when compared to the 2010 formula calculation adopted by the 2009 General Assembly for every Indiana school corporation. For Valley, that's a reduction in funding of just less than $600,000, Boggs said.
More importantly, this reduction is permanent, he said. When the 2011 state tuition support formula is being developed for each school corporation, the starting point will be the previous year's revenue. That amount will be the reduced 2010 formula calculation.
School board member Mark Wise asked if the $600,000 is less than what Valley was told it was going to get. Boggs said it was.
In order to get back to the proposed 2010 funding levels, the state would need to find $300 million of replacement revenue next year that the state's revenue forecast does not anticipate. The governor and General Assembly have stated they will not raise taxes in 2010 to make up for the loss of state revenue, Boggs said. The reduction will impact 2011 and thereafter. Unless state revenues increase, the 2010 cuts will be a school funding factor for the future.
"A 4.557 percent reduction in state tuition support will have a significant impact on education in Indiana," Boggs said. "Indiana's schools have been operating on leaner budgets for several years for a variety of reasons, due to increasing costs and declining enrollments in many areas of the state."
During the past two years, Valley's student enrollment has declined by almost 120 students, with the majority of the decline being at the high school level. As student enrollment declines, Boggs said, there also must be a corresponding reduction in staffing. He said every effort will be made to accomplish this reduction in staffing through retirements and natural attrition.
"The good news in all this is that the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation has been fiscally conservative and operated in a responsible manner for many years," Boggs said. "An unanticipated reduction in funding of almost $600,000 poses a significant challenge, however, we're in a position to deal with that while continuing to provide quality educational services for our students."
He said he and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dan Kramer have been working diligently since the reduction was announced to find areas in which spending can be reduced without a negative impact on students and programs.
"We have asked our building administrators to hold discussions with their staff members to identify areas in which we can reduce spending. It is our intent to keep the board well informed of the progress made in making the necessary budget reductions," Boggs concluded.[[In-content Ad]]
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During the school board Monday night, Superintendent Brett Boggs gave the board a report on the funding reduction.
On Dec. 28, Governor Mitch Daniels announced funding for education would be reduced by $297 million in 2010 beginning with the January distribution. Recently, the reduction was increased by an additional $1.4 million, Boggs said.
In comparing the total 2009 state tuition support for K-12 education with the new state tuition support total for 2010, there is a reduction in funding of approximately $189 million, or about 3 percent.
Boggs said the problem is that Indiana's school corporations built their 2010 budgets based on the actions of the 2009 General Assembly. These budgets were approved last fall with the assumption the state monies would flow accordingly to school corporations. Master contracts were negotiated and staffing decisions made based on the funding promised by the General Assembly.
In reality, Boggs said, Indiana's school corporations will experience a reduction in state tuition support of 4.557 percent when compared to the 2010 formula calculation adopted by the 2009 General Assembly for every Indiana school corporation. For Valley, that's a reduction in funding of just less than $600,000, Boggs said.
More importantly, this reduction is permanent, he said. When the 2011 state tuition support formula is being developed for each school corporation, the starting point will be the previous year's revenue. That amount will be the reduced 2010 formula calculation.
School board member Mark Wise asked if the $600,000 is less than what Valley was told it was going to get. Boggs said it was.
In order to get back to the proposed 2010 funding levels, the state would need to find $300 million of replacement revenue next year that the state's revenue forecast does not anticipate. The governor and General Assembly have stated they will not raise taxes in 2010 to make up for the loss of state revenue, Boggs said. The reduction will impact 2011 and thereafter. Unless state revenues increase, the 2010 cuts will be a school funding factor for the future.
"A 4.557 percent reduction in state tuition support will have a significant impact on education in Indiana," Boggs said. "Indiana's schools have been operating on leaner budgets for several years for a variety of reasons, due to increasing costs and declining enrollments in many areas of the state."
During the past two years, Valley's student enrollment has declined by almost 120 students, with the majority of the decline being at the high school level. As student enrollment declines, Boggs said, there also must be a corresponding reduction in staffing. He said every effort will be made to accomplish this reduction in staffing through retirements and natural attrition.
"The good news in all this is that the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation has been fiscally conservative and operated in a responsible manner for many years," Boggs said. "An unanticipated reduction in funding of almost $600,000 poses a significant challenge, however, we're in a position to deal with that while continuing to provide quality educational services for our students."
He said he and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dan Kramer have been working diligently since the reduction was announced to find areas in which spending can be reduced without a negative impact on students and programs.
"We have asked our building administrators to hold discussions with their staff members to identify areas in which we can reduce spending. It is our intent to keep the board well informed of the progress made in making the necessary budget reductions," Boggs concluded.[[In-content Ad]]
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